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Running a company is a process that’s supposed to earn you money, yet, even the most low-cost of businesses (simple drop shipping e-commerce operations) have some starting costs. Most other business models come with regular costs (a lease on office space, employee salaries, utilities and more). In other words, you need some operational cash flow to keep it all running and there are ways to make this more reliable.

1. Conduct a credit check on customers

A lot of businesses find themselves in need of a debt collecting agency when, in reality, they were supposed to think about this problem a lot earlier. One of the ways to avoid this problem is to conduct a credit check on customers, especially if you’re in an industry with an unusually large value of an order and have a payment system that comes in many credit payments. Sure, this may take a lot of time, effort and resources, yet, it can help you avoid the scenario in which your credit payments aren’t arriving in time, or aren’t arriving at all.

2. Hire a debt collection agency

Previously, we’ve mentioned the fact that it’s best to avoid the need to collect debt, if possible. However, the problem lies in the fact that, sometimes, such a thing won’t be a possibility. Think about it; every person with a bad credit history has had one point in their life when their credit history was still flawless. In other words, just because they were always responsible when it came to their payments in the past, that doesn’t mean they’ll keep up with this practice in the future, as well. In that case, you might be compelled to hire services of a debt collecting agency. Fortunately, this practice is nowhere near as bad as it sounds, seeing as how it comes with numerous benefits of its own.

3. Sell invoices

So far, we’ve talked about credit payments that are either late or not coming. However, what if these payments are coming in time, yet, you need the entirety of the money right away. In that case, you might want to try and sell some of those account receivables. This is a scenario where you get to sell your invoices to a factoring company and get the majority of their full value right away and a small part once the factoring company receives the money. Of course, they keep a small fee in exchange for their service. This nonetheless is a lot closer to selling your assets than getting a loan.

4. Getting a loan

Sometimes, you’ll need the money right away, however, this might not be the money that you have on paper, like was the case in previous examples. You see, a lot of businesses simply need more cash to stay afloat before their business becomes profitable. For a business to become self-sustainable, it sometimes takes between six months and two full years, which is the amount of time that a lot of first-time entrepreneurs tend to underestimate. In this case, your safest bet may lie in the idea of applying for no security business loans.

5. Incentivize immediate payments

The last thing you need to do is encourage those who want to pay for the full value of the order (in cash or by using an electronic payment) by offering different sorts of incentives. Sometimes, this can be an additional offer to sweeten the pot, while in some scenarios, you’ll be offering them a chance to pay less. The net result will be similar to when you’re selling your invoices but the procedure will be a lot simpler and you’ll have your money even faster.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, improving your operational cash flow is a tricky business in which you’re bound to encounter numerous solutions, each of which has its advantages and downsides. In any case, you have a problem that needs to be resolved and you have to pay in order to solve it. Now, whether you pay a debt collecting agency, factoring company, or return interest to a lender is up to you. Just keep in mind that this is a necessary expense for your business to stay in the game.

While traditionalists may argue that everything should be done in-house, more and more businesses are starting to take the idea of outsourcing more seriously. The reasons behind this are numerous, most prominently, due to the fact that outsourcing is more cost-efficient, it gives better immediate results and it is more convenient. Furthermore, the idea of outsourcing itself has evolved in the past several years. Here are five additional reasons why outsourcing might be the right solution for your SMB.

1. Improve the focus of your company

When running a small operation, you will have trouble focusing on your core tasks due to the fact that you have to manage several departments at the same time. Therefore, outsourcing certain departments, such as IT or HR, can improve the focus of your company. These fields already require a high level of expertise that you probably don’t possess, which means that you will finally be free to dedicate your full attention to areas where you’ll be able to contribute the most.

2. Easier budgeting

Even though you could start your own in-house departments instead of outsourcing marketing or customer support, outsourcing simply makes budgeting much easier. You get a fixed price for the set of services you’ve insisted on and that is precisely what you have to pay for them. Seeing as how you are negotiating directly with the representative of the agency you are outsourcing to, you won’t have to worry about benefits, paid leave, sick days, holidays, overtime, incentives or micro-management of their employers. As far as you are concerned, you have a financial obligation towards the agency you are dealing with, an obligation that can be fulfilled by simply paying what you owe on a due date.

3. Expanding your talent pool

The next massive advantage of outsourcing is access to a much larger talent pool. Think about it, when hiring in-house employees, unless you’re willing to bring in remote workers, you are forced to work with the local talent. In 2018, however, offshoring is a viable option. Instead of working with a limited talent pool, you can hire a copywriter from Hong Kong and get a much better service at a more affordable price. Needless to say, in this particular situation, having a greater offer to filter through results in a direct boost to your company’s productivity. This is especially true when hiring people for jobs that require creativity.

4. Prepare for the future

The next important reason why outsourcing is a good idea is that it arms you with an invaluable experience that you will definitely need in the future. You see, as a business owner, you will have to learn how to deal with an increased workload, sooner rather than later. As your company grows, you might be tempted to try and penetrate a foreign market or simply start an international office in order to diversify your brand a bit. Either way, outsourcing early on can prepare you for the challenges that come with these practices. Furthermore, outsourcing your IT, customer service or copywriting tasks is a great way to safely scale up in the world of remote collaboration.

5. Greater expertise

Even if you do manage to hire the right people for the job, equip them with high-end tools and provide a top-notch training, it will take time until they are competent enough to rightfully call themselves experts. Sure, you have to start somewhere but what if you need some immediate results and you can’t afford to wait? While this may sound impatient or even unreasonable, the truth is that no one is going to cut you any slacks just because you are new to the business world. So, if you have the feeling that time is working against you, outsourcing might provide you with just the experienced assistance you need.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, there are so many benefits to outsourcing but there are a couple of flaws, as well. First of all, you no longer have a direct control over your operations like you used to. Second, there is always a question of security, seeing as how unverified personnel might gain access to the otherwise sensitive information. Finally, there is the issue of calculating the long-term costs. The longer you postpone starting your own department the more money you stand to lose. Still, some companies reach the conglomerate status without ever giving up on the idea of outsourcing.

No matter what kind of work you do, you should always aim at making the most of your workday and ending your day with a sense of accomplishment. However, a workday can easily spiral out of control and make you procrastinate. If you want to avoid this, you should try to do everything you can in order to increase your productivity at work. We came up with five ways for increasing productivity that might be exactly what you need.

Take regular breaks

There’s no need to say that sitting in front of the screen the entire day isn’t the best way to make sure you make the most of your time in the office. In fact, if you spend all of your work hours behind your desk, chances are you’ll start experiencing eyestrain and backache. And issues like this are only going to hurt your productivity. Therefore, make sure you take regular breaks and spend them away from your desk. You can use your breaks to talk to your co-workers or make that phone call you’ve been delaying for so long. Taking a walk around the building in order to keep your body moving and get some fresh air is also something you can’t go wrong with.

Eliminate all the clutter

Nobody enjoys working behind a desk that’s full of things that rarely get any use. Not only that clutter can make it more difficult for you to focus on your work but it can also make you fear that you’ve skipped a meeting or missed an important deadline. Luckily, there are tons of things you can do to make your desk clutter-free. Firstly, you should try to make the most of your drawers. Move all the stuff you rarely use into one of your drawers and keep them there until you actually need them. You might also want to store all the contracts and other documents on a flash drive, instead of having a desk full of crumpled pieces of paper.

Design your office carefully

Your office design is another thing that’s always going to affect your productivity at work. So, no matter if you’re working from home or in an office, you should try to create a place that will allow you to focus solely on your work. For example, you might want to put your desk next to a window so that you can take a look at the world outside your office from time to time. On top of that, you should also make sure your office is as comfy as possible. This means you’ll want to get a rug for your office and invest in an ergonomic office chair. Hanging a few motivational posters is also a great idea.

Stop multitasking

People believe that if they multitask, they’ll be able to get more work done. However, tackling two tasks at the same time can actually do more harm than good. First of all, multitasking can actually slow you down. A 2008 study conducted at the University of Utah has shown that drivers who used their cell phones while driving took more time to reach their destination than those who were focused only on the road. Moreover, multitasking can also stress you out and only hurt your productivity. For example, a California-based study has shown that employees who don’t have constant email access tend to have lower heart rates and be less stressed out about their work.

Invest in your career

One of the best ways to be more productive is to invest in your career. Today, there are so many online courses and seminars you can take that are going to help you become better at what you do. Of course, you don’t only have to aim at taking courses and seminars that are closely related to your niche. In fact, there are certain skills that can be quite helpful for people working in just any industry. For example, you might want to think about signing up for a foreign language class or a touch-typing course.

Follow these five ways and you’ll be guaranteed to get more work done. However, this doesn’t mean you should always keep looking for some innovative ways to increase your productivity at work.

There is a perpetual debate being waged about whether companies should implement marketing departments of their own or should they outsource their marketing to outside partners, i.e. marketing agencies. In many cases, it comes down to money, but sometimes other factors play a more important role.

Today, we will be looking at those factors and try to find out what a good marketing agency can do for you and your company should you decide to use an outside partner.

Years of Expertise

Any renowned marketing agency will boast a staff filled with people who have spent years in marketing and who have actually had marketing education. In the world of digital marketing gurus and other charlatans, this is a huge thing as these people will actually know what they are doing. They will know how to identify your needs and the best way to fulfill those needs in the most cost-effective way possible. This is what decades of joint experience bring to the table and it is definitely not something you should ignore.

Latest Technology

Marketing has become technology-driven and it is safe to say that most companies do not have the resources to supply their limited marketing teams with all the new technology. When you go outside for a marketing partner, you know that you will be getting services enabled by the latest technology – from content producing equipment to the latest in data analysis software and beyond. With this latest technology, your outsourced marketing partner will be able to set you apart from the competition which is what marketing is all about when you get down to it.

So Many Ideas

Marketing agencies thrive on ideas and they employ people just for the purpose of having ideas. Unless you run a massive corporation with huge marketing teams, your marketing department will be limited and its members will sooner or later start to think alike. Marketing agencies are set up in a way to avoid this and to provide a constant stream of ideas and innovation. As a result of this, your marketing efforts will stand out in the crowd and your message will never get stale.

Crucial Tweaks

Marketing is a fluid concept and once you settle on a strategy, it is not set in stone. It has to be revisited on a daily basis and it needs to be tweaked along the way. In-house marketing departments often neglect this aspect of their work for a number of reasons – limited resources and vanity being the primary ones. When you hire a marketing agency, you can rest assured they will be adjusting your campaigns regularly so that you get the best possible results.

Abundance of Data

One of the most difficult aspects of marketing to master is data and data analysis. This is often considered the hard science part of marketing and many in-house marketing teams lack the expertise in this particular field. Sure, they know how to recognize when a campaign is not working out, but they lack the advanced knowledge and actual data to make models that will predict future outcomes and that will more precisely identify what works and what doesn’t. Professional marketing agencies operate with all the data you can ever need and they know how to present it to you in a way that will help you make smart decisions down the road.

In the end, it is all about being able to make truly informed decisions that will benefit your company. A good marketing agency can do that for you.

In the business world of today, an IT department or an outsourcing service can make a huge difference. With innovation and quick responses being more important than ever before and with online marketing becoming such a huge factor, a company’s IT efforts have become a crucial part of its functioning.

Today, we will be examining why it makes sense for the vast majority of businesses, especially the small-to-medium ones to outsource their IT needs, instead of employing an in-house IT department.

1. Money

Some people may find it vulgar that we start with money, but for the vast majority of smaller companies, money is the biggest factor when deciding on something, including their IT needs. Running an in-house IT department can be very expensive and even more than that, not exactly cost-effective. When you only need IT people a few times every month, there is little point in paying them all-year round.

Things get even more complicated when you learn how much professionals with the most lucrative tech specializations make. You will also need to make sure these people have somewhere to work, which means you will be spending more on office space. Then there is the equipment. The expenses pile up.

With an outsourced IT service, you pay for what you need and you pay a fee that does not change. This allows you to better plan out your budget for the upcoming period and make sure that all of your money is well-spent.

2. Talent

Depending on where your company is headquartered and how much money you have to afford, you will be able to get more or less talented IT experts. The reality is that unless you have a hefty budget to operate on and are headquartered in a big city, the chances are you will be limited when it comes to top tech IT experts.

When you go with an outsourced IT service, you are getting people who have been “in the trenches” for a long time and whose expertise is never questionable.

3. Equipment

For the most part, your accounting department will be able to get their job done on their ancient computers that you last updated in 1997. The same goes for salespeople whose job tends to be more about communicating with people than deploying the latest advances. Your IT people, however, cannot work with antiquated equipment if you wish them to have any positive influence on the bottom line. In short, they will need new equipment often and it will cost you money.

Outsourced IT services pride themselves on the equipment they bring to the table, equipment that allows their people to cater to their customers (i.e. you) as well as is humanly possible. In the IT world, latest tech advancements can make a huge difference.

4. Scalability

Different companies need different things from their IT people. For some, the needs are quite limited, while others have certain jobs that will require an entire team of highly skilled professionals to do. With an internal IT department, it is always a hassle when you need to make it bigger or smaller. In one case, you are hiring a new tech specialist and it takes time and money. Conversely, you are getting rid of someone and opening a whole other can of worms.

With outsourced IT people, this stops being an issue. When you need more from them, you simpy let them know and they allocate more people and resources to your account. If you do not need them as much in the next period, you let them know. The cost of their services might go up or down, but once again, you know what you are paying for.

The most important thing is that with outsourced IT team, you get exactly what you paid for and what you need at that point in time.

For most small to medium businesses, outsourcing various IT projects is the only way to go. Most such companies do not have the money to have an in-house IT department, let alone a team that will design websites for them and develop software or apps.

This is where IT outsourcing comes in and companies like Globality Consulting who know how to get you in touch with such companies.

But, how do you know that you have outsourced well? What are the signs you hired the right IT people?

They Ask a Lot of Questions

In order to do any job right, one needs to have all the information, it is a simple fact. When outsourcing your IT projects and perhaps even entire departments, you are putting a lot in the hands of people who are not a part of your company. They do not know what your company is all about and what it is exactly that you need of them. In order to be able to provide you with the superior service, they need to know that. In order to know that, they need to ask questions.

This is why you should never be satisfied by an outsourced IT service which says okay and then goes on to work. Your outsourced partners need to be involved, inquire. Only then can they provide the service you need.

They Deliver on Time

When you are a corporate entity, i.e. a company or business of some kind, being punctual is everything. You cannot afford to let your customers or clients down and you shouldn’t find yourself being let down by the people you hire. This is why your IT service people need to be on time and punctual no matter what. When you hire them for a project, this project needs to be done on time. If they have provided you with an estimate, they should at least attempt to honor it. Being late can cause devastating problems for your company and you simply cannot afford it.

The Use State of the Art Technology

The very name of the field tells you how important technology is – information technology. You do not want to go to war armed with a big rock, do you? The same goes for your outsourced IT people. They need to be on the cutting edge of technology and open to new things. Let’s say they need to provide you with some hosting and they haven’t worked with a certain company, like for instance SiteGround. If you mention such a company, they need to be aware of it, research, find reviews of it, like here. It is all about staying in the loop and providing their clients (you) with the best service possible.

They Are Growing

One of the best indications that a company is doing a great job, including an IT company of any sort, is that they are growing. This means that new people are finding them and that new people are satisfied with their service, meaning they recommend them. Who knows, maybe you recommend them? Once they start growing, their services might worsen for a brief period, but you should never tolerate anything too serious. You are one of their original clients and they need to know how to honor that.

They Suggest New Things

When we say “they suggest new things”, we do not mean “they are constantly trying to sell you new stuff”. We mean that they are coming up with ways in which they could better the service they provide for you as a unique client. As time goes by, they will probably come up with new ways in which they can help your company and if they do come with you with these new suggestions, you should listen to them. Who knows, maybe they have something truly special on their minds.

There is no doubt that outsourcing is becoming an important part of the modern world of business. Companies from all over the world are finding out-of-house partners who allow them to do a better job, to provide their services cheaper and to, all in all, improve their operation in every way possible.

The scope of services that are being outsourced has grown over the years and various companies now outsource their sales department, their IT and accounting departments, as well as their marketing and even their security.

And while there is absolutely no dilemma whether outsourcing is a sound business tactic, there are also a few things that companies need to be careful about, above everything else about the security.

Sharing of Information

The main reason why companies that outsource need to be careful about their security is that they are sharing an increased amount of information with other companies and outside partners. For example, a company that has approached an outside marketing agency might find themselves in a situation where they have to share sales figures and other, perhaps even more sensitive, data about their finances. Whenever a company is working on a project with someone, they have to share certain data and it is easy for this data to get intercepted or “lost”.

Moreover, since the outsourced partners might have remote workers themselves, this will “spread” your data even further, involving all kinds of cloud solutions and remote access platforms. This is why you will want your partners to use high quality encrypted cloud storage as well as channels of communications that are secured by layers and layers of software which will ensure nothing leaks.

Human Error

Another potential problem with outsourced partners is that you are increasing a number of people that have access to critical aspects of your business, which due to simple numbers, leads to increased vulnerability of your business. This is particularly true online where an increased number of people is at risk of becoming victims of social engineering and other ways to breach someone’s data.

Outsourced partners often work with a large number of clients which can only “complicate” things and make it more likely for them to mix something up, share access details with persons who should not have access to any part of the operation and more.

Human Malice

This is something business people do not like to think and talk about, but it is the harsh reality. Sometimes, people wish to harm a company, whether for personal reasons (like after getting fired) or for financial gain. This is something companies always have to worry about from inside, but with outsourced partners, the number of people to keep an eye on increases.

It is easy to imagine a situation where a disgruntled employee of your outsourced partner decides to steal sensitive information and then post it online or even sell it for profit. Sure, there are always legal actions that you can take, but this will do very little to help you in a situation where your company data has been exposed.

How to Avoid It

In order to avoid any security issues with your outsourced partners, it is absolutely vital never to rush into such a relationship with any company that you are not sure about. Only after you have checked their reputation and looked at their characteristics should you start working with them.

Another way to minimize chances of anything happening to the security of your outsourced relationship and your company in general is to hire an agency like Globality Consulting who have years of experience in the field and who will put you in touch with only the most professional and secure partners.

Whether you like it or not, the internet revolves around search engines today, or more precisely, around Google. Vast majority of users only visit websites that they find on Google and this is even more true for businesses and other commercial websites. They are rarely found in any other way and if you want your business website to become popular and lucrative, it needs to rank high for certain searches on Google (and other search engines, to a lesser degree).

One way to do this, or more precisely the main way to do this, is to do SEO or search engine optimization. This entails a number of practices that are employed in order to make the website rank higher in Google searches when certain keywords are typed in. The vast majority of it can be done by pretty much everyone, but there are still innumerable advantages of outsourcing your SEO needs.

But, what are they?

The Skills

Unless you have worked in SEO yourself, it is highly unlikely that you will have all the skills needed to do it efficiently and in a way that will make sense when we are talking time : money ratio. Quite simply put, if you don’t know what you are doing, you are going to do very little indeed. Even if you did work in SEO a few years ago, the industry has changed so much over the years that your knowledge is pretty much 100% obsolete.

When you hire someone to do your SEO, you are hiring people who do this for a living and who have all the skills necessary to rank your website as high as possible on Google. Their experts will be in the loop and they will know exactly what your website needs in order to beat the competition.

The Tools

SEO may seem like a straightforward operation that requires nothing but hard work and knowledge, but this is not exactly the case. Namely, like any other industry, SEO also has its tools and without the latest tools, it is much more difficult to accomplish anything measurable. If you wanted to do your SEO yourself, you would have to purchase all these tools, renew the licenses and constantly be on the lookout for new ones.

With an outsourced SEO company, you can rest assured that you are getting a service which will include the latest tools and that will take advantage of all the options made possible by these tools. SEO professionals know how tools make their work better and they will know how to use them.

The Results

In the end, it is all about the results and this is another area where it becomes obvious that it is better to hire SEO professionals than to do it yourself. Innumerable people and businesses have attempted to do their SEO themselves, pouring ridiculous amounts of time only to discover that they haven’t accomplished a single thing. They wasted time, resources and money without any results.

On the other hand, you have SEO services which not only produce results, but whose success and continued operation is directly influenced by the results they provide for their users. These case studies from Online Marketing Gurus are a great example of what a professional SEO company can do for a business, no matter what industry it is in and how competitive such an industry is.

Another great thing about outsourcing your SEO is that people who provide such services will also know how to quantify their results, allowing you to directly see what they have done for you. This way, you will know whether it makes sense to continue doing it or not.

In the end, it all really comes down to how much your business is going to benefit and it is quite clear that an outsourced SEO service is the best thing you can do for the online visibility of your company. It is as simple as that, really.

Analytics have been part of the world of business since the concept of business first emerged as our species developed. It might have not been called analytics, but people who did business have always analyzed different ins and outs, their position, the people they are dealing with and so on. If not for analytics, business would not exist. It would be gambling.

For quite some time in the modern times, analytics were mostly reserved for big players, corporations which operated with enormous budgets and who could afford to have analysts work for them 24/7. As technology advanced, business analytics became much more “democratic” and today, even smaller companies can benefit from it. The only choice they have to make is whether to outsource it or to purchase business analytics software for their needs.

Option #1 – Outsourcing

When you outsource your business analytics operations, you are effectively going to an outside partner, a company which employees analysts who work on a number of clients, including you and who have been doing this for years.

The advantages of outsourcing your business analytics are quite obvious. For one, they are much cheaper than in-house solutions, but that is not what we are talking about today. We are talking about the kind of service you are getting from such partners. In short, you will be getting amazing service that you will have to pay for. You will be working with experts who have worked in this field for a long time and who know everything about analysis.

You will also be able to precisely define what you are looking for and what you expect their results to do for you. They will also be bringing their experience with them, providing valuable insights into aspects of your business that you hadn’t even thought about.

Outsourcing your business analytics has some bad sides too, unfortunately. For instance, it can be a daunting experience for inexperienced managers and owners to deal with these, usually, very large corporations and agencies which work on a global level. Their services might not be tailored to smaller organizations like yours.

Furthermore, there is always the issue of data security. Namely, in order for them to be able to do their job, you will need to send them the vast majority of the most pertinent data your company works with and unless you are totally, 100% sure they know what they are doing, you will never be sure that your data is still only your own. Finally, there is the issue of mergers and takeovers that are quite common in this field due to the offshore nature of outsourcing business analytics companies. You might end up with an analysis company that has been working for your main competitor for years which may result in all kinds of negative consequences.

Option #2 – Business Analysis Software

Of course, you can always do it on your own by purchasing business analytics software and doing your analysis on your own.

The biggest advantage of this approach is that you are doing your analysis on your own and that you are absolutely certain that you are going to give your 100% when doing so. This is your company, these are your people and you are all in the same boat. In addition to this, you can rest assured that your data is secure since it never leaves your company. By employing this kind of software yourself, you will also learn a lot about your company, your field and your competitors. This will become more and more important as time goes by.

The main disadvantage of this is that someone is going to have to spend their time to master the software and achieve the results that you would be guaranteed with an outsourced partner. That being said, modern business analysis software solutions are much more intuitive than those from the past, allowing people who have never had contact with this type of software to use it. Of course, in order to reap all the benefits, you will need to get familiar with the software and to really learn everything there is about it.

Bottom Line

In the end, it all comes down to how much money you are willing to spend, what exactly it is what you need and whether you have the time and the human resources to do your analysis on your own. The important thing is to think everything over and not rush into anything.

In order for a business, any business, to be truly profitable and grow, the efficiency needs to be at its highest level possible. Without efficiency, you are wasting time, you are wasting money and you are wasting people’s skills. All of this amounts to a business that is struggling and that will never grow to be everything that it could be. Quite often, the efficiency can be improved by people outside your company, either through outsourcing or through hiring or utilizing people who do not work directly for you.

How Outsourcing Helps

Here at the Globality Consulting Blog, we have talked in great detail about all the aspects of a business that can be outsourced and how this can help a business be better. One of the areas where this is most noticeable is when we are talking efficiency.

For one, when you outsource certain operations within your company, you are hiring people who are much more experienced at the job that you hired them to do. Namely, companies that offer outsourced services of kinds employ people who have been doing that work for years and who have seen everything there is to see. This is a much better situation than when you hire someone with no or little experience who does not know how to manage their time and their resources.

Furthermore, with outsourcing, you are generally cutting down on the expenses of operation, further increasing the efficiency through simple math. When you spend less money on certain aspects of running your company, you can afford more of it. It logically follows that you get more results and this can be seen as improved efficiency.

Employee Education

Another way in which outside sources can help your company become more efficient is to invest in education of the employees who work for you. Depending on the kind of money you have at your disposal, the type of your business and the department that might benefit from education; there are quite a few options you can choose from.

You can send some of your employees to a seminar or two where they will learn new skills and adopt new ways of doing things. Then, when they return, they can share this knowledge with their colleagues and give your company efficiency a boost. If you find this too expensive, you can approach a similar company to yours and see whether they might be willing to share the costs by sending some people of theirs.

You can also have someone come over and hold courses at your company, instilling new knowledge with your entire company and all of the people working for you. This can be even more expensive, but it also ensures that everyone gets to learn from the best.

Becoming a Better Manager

There is also quite a few things that you can do to improve your own managerial and leadership skills which will then help you inspire your employees better and run your company too. You can read up on material that talks about leadership and management. You can also read upon biographies and books by and on people who have displayed amazing leadership skills throughout history. All leadership lessons can be applied to business leadership.

In addition to this, you can always hire a leadership coach who will show you new things that you can apply to your business. If you find someone with sizeable coaching skills, they will soon turn you into a much improved leader who will know how to get maximum from their employees and thus increase the efficiency of their company.

We have talked about outsourcing your IT department on a number of occasions on this blog. We have talked about why it is a good idea, we have talked about finding the best people to handle your outsourced IT services and we have even talked about the mistakes that you should avoid when hiring outsourced IT partners. Then, we realized that we have only touched upon the actual work that they can do for you – the services that they can provide. So, we decided to talk about these in more detail today.

Managing your Company’s Data

One of the things that your outsourced IT services will do for you is store and manage your company’s data. This is particularly useful for larger enterprises which handle copious amounts of data which would require a number of servers to handle. One of the most essential things to check when taking advantage of this service are the security measures that your new partners employ to keep your data secure. It is of paramount importance that your data is safe at all times.

Setting up a Website for You

These days, if a business does not have a website that people can visit and explore, it is as if they do not exist. This is true for pretty much every type of business these days – from a local restaurant to a large manufacturing operation. If you outsource your IT services, they will design and develop a website for you. Once it is up and running, they will maintain it and ensure it is working the best it could. Sometimes they might hire outside partners for web design, but they will answer for them, so to say and you should never worry that you will get a subpar website.

Setting up a Network

Most businesses these days need a network that will allow the employees and everyone else to collaborate without having to rely on the internet connection or any outside factors. This is where networks come in and it is one of the main things that an outsourced IT service can do for you. They will be using the latest in network technology and software solutions, ensuring your network is running like clockwork and enabling your people to work in perfect conditions.

Some businesses choose to set up their own networks on their own and while these may work, they are rarely on the same level as professional solutions. They will often involve subpar equipment and budget cheap computers. With outsourced IT services, you are getting the latest technology at a fraction of a price.

Moving your Business to Cloud

Cloud computing is becoming more and more popular with each day and it is no surprise. Moving some of your digital operation to the cloud will have a number of benefits for your business – you will be able to work remotely, the data will be dispersed so that no disaster can compromise it, collaboration on different projects will be improved and so on. Once again, if you decide to do this (and it is something your outsourced IT partners might suggest), you need to check the security protocols and ensure your information is secure at all times.

Keeping your Business Operational

One of the most important services that outsourced IT partners will provide for you is in-office support. What we are talking about here is making sure that your hardware and your software are working at full capacity, not giving you any troubles. This is where your new partner’s expertise will come in handy, as well as their equipment that will allow them to take care of any problems in record time.

There are plenty more things that your outsourced IT partners will be able to do for you and the only thing you need to take care of is determine your actual needs and requirements. If you are unsure about your ability to find the best IT outsourcing partners, you can always turn to Globality Consulting, of course.

Financial advisers are financial experts with different types of academic background and education who specialize in helping people and businesses with their finances. Today, we will be talking about financial advisers and how they can help business owners with running their company.

The main reason business owners hire financial advisers is that they are often not that knowledgeable about finances themselves, especially when it comes to more complex practices and more comprehensive handling of the money.

Do you need a financial adviser?

Deciding whether your business needs a financial adviser is something that only you can determine. For instance, you should consider what you need done. For many jobs that you might think require a financial adviser, an accountant will do. Accountants are easier to find and they are usually cheaper than financial advisers. You should also take long, hard look at your business and determine whether you really have the money there that needs to be handled by an expert. If your business is not making enough and your profits are not really that great, you might not need a financial adviser.

What kind of financial adviser you need?

Another very important thing to consider is that there are various types of financial advisers that work with businesses. For instance, there are the Enrolled Agents, financial advisers that specialize in the matter of taxes, helping you save money and avoid any penalties. There are also Financial Analysts who mainly do investments and who can diversify your company’s portfolio. Life Underwriters specialize in insurance and they can save you a lot of time with their expertise. If you need someone who will handle a wide variety of choices, perhaps the best way to go is with a Financial Planner, the Swiss knife of the financial world.

How can they help you?

Depending on the needs of your company and the type of the financial adviser that you hired, there are many different things that they can do for you. For example, they can look at your retirement and insurance plans and give you some advice on how to improve them. Or, they can find ways to make your money work for you by investing some of the company’s assets into different stocks and markets. There are financial advisers who are tax-wizzes and who will ensure that you are never paying a cent more than you should for taxes, perhaps even getting some refunds. And this is just scratching the surface.

Should you outsource?

In the vast majority of cases, small to medium businesses outsource their financial advisers. Even if they do have their own accounting department, they rarely have the need or the means to hire a 24/7 financial adviser. You will find yourself that it is a much better idea to outsource a financial adviser for a number of reasons. For one, this will be much more affordable. Also, there are really not that many SMBs that need a financial adviser in-house. There is just need for that.

What should you look for in a financial adviser?

There are quite a few thing to look for when choosing a financial adviser. Like we mentioned earlier, you need to find the right type of the financial adviser. Then, you should look at their education and whether they have all the certificates and licenses. This will depend on the country. For example, in the United States, they have to be CFP-certified and in Australia they have to have passed the RG146 training. Of course, you will also want someone who has been successful in the past and whose past clients recommend.

Our final piece of advice is not to hire just anyone. If you are having troubles finding the right people for your financial advising needs, you might want to hire Globality Consulting and they will find you the perfect person for the job. That is why they are there.

We have already talked about whether outsourcing the IT department is a smart idea some time ago and we have come to the conclusion that it is the smartest choice for a vast majority of small and medium-sized businesses that simply do not have the means to support their own systems and their own IT department. Now that we have established that, we feel it is a good idea to say a thing or two about how ensure that the managed IT service provider you hired is the best and that you are getting your money’s worth.

Establish what You Need

Before you do anything else, it is essential that you understand what you need at the moment and what you might need in the future. Perhaps you just need someone to set up your business network. Perhaps you want to take your cyber-presence to a cloud. Maybe you need a comprehensive solution that will require a lot of work on the part of your provider. Maybe you will need someone who will be able to provide a 24/7 network monitoring service. All of this will play a huge role down the line.

Ask Around

The first step in finding that right managed IT services provider is to ask around. For instance, if you have business partners who have already hired such services, ask them if they are happy with their provider. There are also plenty of online communities where people will discuss various providers and where you can find out more about them. You might also want to check which managed IT services providers have received awards lately and who is recommending them.

Look at Their Packages

Once you have narrowed down your search a bit, it is time for you to dig deeper and see whether they will be able to take care of your particular needs. Different providers offer different kinds of services and some of them might be quite narrowly specialized. In addition to this, some providers may be better at a certain aspect or even offer significant discounts on certain services.

In addition to this, not all businesses require the same services and you might make significant savings by deciding on a provider who will offer a package that will take care of your needs without other services that will just make your bill bigger. Some managed IT service providers even offer customized packages where you tell them what you need and they come up with an offer that was tailored to you specifically.

Learn about Their Expertise and Experience

It goes without saying that you will want to go with people who know what they are doing and who have years of experience. We talked to Brisbane-based managed IT service provider and they told us that the number of subpar providers is a staggering one and that you need to ensure that the people you hire have the expertise and the experience to handle your needs. Ask for references and check up on every one of them. Only if you are certain these people are proficient enough should you hire them.

Think about the Future

As time goes and your business grows (hopefuly), you may require different services from your provider. You need to make sure that they will be able to handle these in advance. For instance, if you are worried that their infrastructure and their expertise may be insufficient for future growth of your business and your needs, it might be a better idea to go with someone else. One thing you do not want to do is hire someone only to have to change them after two years because they cannot handle your new needs.

Closing word

If you think that all of this is too much and that you might get lost in the terminology, it might be a good idea to hire someone to find you a managed IT service provider. A company like Globality Consulting is the perfect example of someone who can help you with this.

Unless you are insanely successful or extremely lucky as a business owner, you will most likely experience a crisis or two that might seriously jeopardize the growth or even the very existence of your business.

There are a number of reasons for the crisis that might have befallen you: from the downturn in national economy or your general area to mistakes that someone who works for you have made (or that you may have made). Sometimes, a new competitor shows up with a better line of products or lower prices that you simply cannot match and you start losing clients. The world of business is a vicious one and crises sometimes cannot be avoided.

In such situations, it is of paramount importance to know how to get out of trouble and how to keep your business running. Today, we will be talking about a few things to keep in mind when doing just that.

Identify the Root of the Crisis

In most cases, a business crisis you have to deal with will have one major cause. Sometimes it can be a string of events and little problems that mass together and cause a crisis, but even then, there is usually the biggest problem and the most obvious cause. It is essential to identify the exact root of the crisis because it will help you form the plan for action and also because it will help you avoid similar crises in the future.

Form a Plan of Action

Once you understand where the problem lies, it is time to start thinking about what you can do. You need to factor in everything that you can think of when making the plan. You should think about the time, the money and the work that needs to be spent on taking care of the problem. You need to work out who will do what, what you will be doing, how closely everything needs to be monitored and so on.

Getting Help from Outside

There are crises when you might not be able to take care of everything with the organization that you have in place. Sometimes, you will need a bit of help from outside and you should never be too proud to implement new solutions that will help you weather the storm.

For instance, you might start thinking about outsourcing parts of your organization or even replacing some of your staff with outside solutions. This can save a lot of money and can make for a more sustainable business model. If you choose to do this, the best way to approach it is with some help from a company like Globality Consulting who will provide you with exactly the solutions that your business needs to mitigate the crisis.

Another way to get help from outside is to start using software solutions that will help you cope with a crisis. An example of this is insolvency software such as Encompass which will help you handle the issue of insolvency which is one of the direst crises a business can experience.

Sticking to the Plan

One very important thing to do when trying to climb your way out of a business hole is to stick to the plan that you formulated. If you give up too soon, you might stop everything before it had the chance to yield results. If your plan was made carefully and meticulously, the results should come sooner or later. Of course, there are times when you cannot wait and there are times when you will discover that the plan might not have been the best. In such situations, it would be foolish to stick to it blindly.

In conclusion

To sum everything up – identify the cause, formulate a plan, do not be afraid to go outside for part of the solution and stick to the plan. If you have done everything right and if you are not particularly unlucky, the crisis should be taken care of.

There are two facts that have always been true for the world of small business and that will forever stay true. Fact No. 1 is that most small businesses do not have money to throw around. Most of their money has gone into starting the business and they are mostly trying to stay afloat till the business picks up. Fact No. 2 is that small businesses need marketing, especially in today’s economy where it has become harder than ever to compete with the global reach of the large players in all industries.

Luckily, there are still ways in which small business owners can do effective marketing without spending too much. There is still chance for them to promote their business and their brand without having to live on bread and water for days on end.

Boosting your Local Image

Most small businesses are working in their local community. Unless you provide some sort of services online, you will most likely be offering your services or products to your local community which is why building your relationship with it is one of the best things you can do for your brand and your business.

For example, you can organize local events where you will invite the local community to attend, enjoy the program that you have planned and where you will tell them about your business. For example, you can organize a movie night in the local park or community center or you can organize a block party, perhaps a barbeque. Just the fact that it is your business that is organizing this will promote it and engage the community.

You should also stay involved with local charities, providing your services and products for free or at discount prices. If you have the budget, you might even think about setting up a scholarship program for local students. Quite often you can get these deducted from taxes, so you won’t be spending too much.

Reach out to Local Talent

When doing marketing, you do not always have to go to the biggest and the most famous companies to do the job for you. You do not need to hire the biggest web design agency to develop your website. You do not need to pay thousands of dollars for a logo.

There is always plenty of local talent that will be more than happy to take on a job and who will give their 100% to make your wishes come true. It will bolster their CVs and it will provide you with great marketing opportunities and options for a fraction of the cost that you would incur if you went to big players.

Use the Web

Internet has truly changed the way in which people market their businesses. First of all, there are all the free methods in which one can advertise their business by starting a blog, doing some guest blogging, using social media and more.

In addition to this, it is now easier than ever to outsource certain marketing features and hire only the best people for one’s needs. Companies like Globality Consulting can get you in touch with people who will provide you with affordable services at much lower prices than those you would have to pay otherwise.

Check for Specialized SBM Services

Many reputable and successful marketing agencies have specialized small business marketing packages for those business owners who are looking for great deals. For instance, Marketing Angels, a reputable, award winning marketing agency from Australia offers small business marketing services where they check what the small business is about and how they can position themselves on the market. They figure out the goals and strategies on how to accomplish these goals. All this while keeping the costs to a minimum.

Closing word

As you can see, there are plenty of options for small business owners who still wish to do effective marketing. They only need to be more creative and more careful about it. Soon enough, if you play your cards right, your business will no longer be a small one. And then it is time to grow even further.